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Ein neues Ranking bewertet Hochschulen in Deutschland nach ihrer Vielfalt - und kommt zu überraschenden Ergebnissen.
Die Fachhochschule Münster schneidet besser ab als die LMU München – wenn es um die Zufriedenheit der Studenten geht. Die Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg gehört zu den Spitzenuniversitäten des Landes – betrachtet man den Anwendungsbezug ihrer Forschung. Diese überraschenden Ergebnisse fördert das neue Ranking "Vielfältige Exzellenz" des Centrums für Hochschulentwicklung (CHE) zu Tage.
In diesem Jahr wirft das CHE einen Blick auf die größte Stärke der deutschen Hochschulen: ihre Vielfalt. Bislang hat die Denkfabrik aus Gütersloh neben dem allgemeinen Hochschulranking zur Studienorientierung regelmäßig nur die besten Universitäten in der Forschung gesondert ausgewiesen. Eine hohe Qualität in der Forschung allein wird den unterschiedlichen Aufgaben von Universitäten und Fachhochschulen jedoch kaum gerecht. Mehr...

Sarah hat ihr Studium nicht in Regelzeit geschafft, der Staat hat das Bafög gestrichen. Zwischen Jura-Bibliothek und Tafel-Ausgabestelle kämpft sie für ihren Abschluss.
Weil ihr ein halber Punkt fehlt, ist Sarah arm geworden. Sie fiel durch die Examensprüfung, der Staat strich wegen Überschreitung der Regelstudienzeit das Bafög. 648 Euro im Monat sind weg. Jetzt steht Sarah an der Ausgabestelle der Tafel Berlin-Friedrichshain. Sie ist auf Lebensmittel angewiesen, die anderswo aussortiert wurden. Unter den Bedürftigen fällt Sarah auf: eine junge Frau, 25 Jahre alt, zierliche Statur, Brille mit dunklem Rahmen, die Haare zum Dutt zusammengebunden.
Sarah studiert Jura und hat weniger Geld als ein Hartz-IV-Empfänger. Einem Langzeitarbeitslosen wird die Wohnung bezahlt, zum Leben werden ihm 356 Euro gewährt – ohne Zweifel ein geringer Betrag. Sarah muss von 500 Euro im Monat wohnen, sich kleiden und ernähren. 400 Euro verdient sie mit einem Aushilfsjob bei einem Rechtsanwalt. Dazu kommen gut 100 Euro Wohngeld. Die Eltern können Sarah nicht helfen, sie sind selbst bedürftig.
Sarah fühlt sich nicht wohl, wenn sie zur Tafel geht. Darf sie als junge Studentin hierher kommen? Herr Heil, der Leiter der Tafel Berlin-Friedrichshain, unterscheidet nicht zwischen jungen und alten Bedürftigen. Sarah bekommt Obst und Gemüse, Brot und Aufschnitt. "Die werden eben erst Elite", sagt Heil. Die Studentin sei kein Einzelfall. Mehr...

By William G. Passannante and Cassandre C. Théano. The Rutgers (N.J.) spying case and the Penn State abuse scandal, among others, highlight the liability risks of all types facing colleges and universities. From the other end of the risk spectrum, Tulane University’s (La.) long struggle to rebuild and recoup losses stemming from Hurricane Katrina illustrates the complexity of property damage risk management. In an era in which liability risks keep multiplying and natural disasters seem to have grown more intense, general counsels of colleges and universities should ensure that their existing liability policies cover the myriad complex liabilities and losses that they may face. Below are three growing categories of claims colleges and universities should watch out for, the types of insurance that address them, and steps to maximize insurance recovery following a loss. Read more...

By Elizabeth Millard. The reality behind seven commonly held beliefs about open source and what direction they’ll take your institution.
The Myth: If you use open source, you’re on your own.
The Reality: At Indiana State University, where open source is used for mobile application development, administrators recently launched an app with the help of Modo Labs, which offers mobile solutions and support services based on the Kurogo open source mobile platform. The project has gone so well, officials are looking at open source for development of a content management system, as well as creation of “sandboxes” for students who want to develop their own apps. Santhana Naidu, web services director at ISU, notes that his first experience with open source was 10 years ago, when he was using the Linux open source platform. Then, if he had an issue with the code, he’d have to post a question on online support forums and read through opinions culled from around the world. “That was the experience of many people using open source back then,” he says. “Unfortunately, there’s a belief that it’s still that way. But these days, there are so many companies, like Modo, that provide comprehensive support.” Read more...

By Julia Lawrence. Public universities have long been considered a bargain in higher education, but increasingly that is no longer the case. With a stagnant economy forcing state governments to cut funding for higher education, more schools are forced to make up the difference via tuition hikes — which means that those who considered a public university to be a great deal will now need to examine things a bit more closely.
Consider a Colorado math teacher’s story: he and his decidedly middle-class parents were able to completely cover his tuition which at the time – the mid to late 1980′s – at roughly $8,600 per year. Now that his daughter is looking to follow in his footsteps, the tuition bill has more than doubled. To attend CU, his daughter will have to pay more than $23,000 a year – a sum that is beyond what Joiner and his wife can afford. Read more...

By Julia Lawrence. With the price of college going up every year faster than inflation, more attention has recently been given to figuring out how students can make the best choices when it comes to picking their school and their major. So much so, that – according to The Atlantic – students now overrate the importance of both of these decisions.
As Andrew G. Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute and Abigail Haddad, a Ph.D. student at Pardee RAND Graduate School, write, it is no secret that conventional wisdom says that the surest way of achieving economic success is to enroll in college after graduating high school and majoring in a tech-related discipline. Several recent studies have been published supporting this point of view. Yet, there are reasons to question these findings because many of them are plagued with simple statistical errors, draw conclusions that the evidence doesn’t warrant, and – what is worse – encourage governments to introduce and pursue bad public policy. Read more...

By Julia Lawrence. Before College Scorecards — a tool highly-touted by the White House — can help high school students make informed decisions about their education, those high school students need to be able to understand them. And according to a new study out of the Center for American Progress and authored by Julie Margetta Morgan and Gadi Dechter, they do not.
The scorecards, which list such information as total cost of attendance, graduation rates, the average debt load carried by students — along with the potential earnings of those who graduate with a degree — are supposed to make it easier for potential applicants to get the full picture, all in a format that is consistent from school to school. Yet when four focus groups of high school seniors and juniors were asked their opinion on the new format, they were decidedly unimpressed. Read more...

By Julia Lawrence. Are Ivy League universities practicing discrimination against students of Asian descent? In short, yes, says Ron Unz, himself a Harvard University graduate and the publisher of The American Conservative.
In The New York Times ‘Room for Debate’ he writes that just as university officials never admitted that at one time there was a “Jewish quota” in place, they’re engaging in a similar type of dodge now – officially denying that a rule is in place to limit the number of high-achieving Asian-Americans enrolled while ignoring the powerful statistical proof that it exists.
Universities all over the country provide racial breakdown of their students to the Center for Education Statistics, which collects it and then posts it online. Prior to 1990, Harvard University was under investigation for allegedly discriminating against applicants of Asian-American descent, yet once the investigation was concluded, the percentage of Asian-American students admitted to the school begun to decline year-to-year. Today about 16.5% of all students attending Harvard are Asian-American. In the years between 1990 and 2000, that number was closer to 20%. Read more...

By Julia Lawrence. The idea has been expressed in many ways over the previous several years – overhaul, reform, revolution, and now a reboot – but however it is put, the facts it describes are still the same: the American higher education system is in need of some drastic and immediate changes if it is to continue to remain competitive in the global marketplace and produce graduates ready and willing to become the pillars that support and grow the nation’s economy.
Although there are a number of challenges facing the higher education system in this country, according to Steven Bell writing in Library Journal, the three mains hurdles seem to be the ever-increasing cost of attending college, the stagnation that keeps many universities from breaking with the status quo, and a failing primary and secondary education system that leaves its graduates unprepared for college-level academic work. Read more...